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PrintMusic 2009

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: MakeMusic!

October 15, 2008
Late last year, I bought Finale SongWriter 2007, thinking that the fifty-dollar software would be enough for me to compose music for my cartoons. However, after nearly a year of not being satisfied by its limitations, I finally paid an extra $50 for an upgrade to Finale PrintMusic 2009, and I do not regret it. For one thing, SongWriter is limited to how many staves of music you can put in it, and PrintMusic doesn't seem to have that limitation. It can also do grace notes, and other things that SongWriter couldn't. I originally sought out to buy PrintMusic anyway, but I thought it would be a bargain to buy the other program instead. Better late than never, I guess.

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Music Ace Deluxe

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: Harmonic Vision

January 28, 2004
I have a 7 year old daughter and this product has helped to motivate her to want to continue lessons and practice. She has a lot of fun with it!

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Singing Coach Unlimited

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: Carry-A-Tune Technologies

November 01, 2004
Bought this in August 2008 and I'm very happy with it. I mostly use the song editor to create vocal exercises which I use to train with everyday. I've never taken singing lessons (and can't afford them at the moment), so this is a great way to train my voice and ears. The sing-along pitch tracking system had me singing on key in no time, at least while I'm watching the screen. I have not had any problems running this program on Windows Vista 64-bit. The lessons are good for learning how the program works, though they are obviously geared toward kids. It's fun to mess around on this with friends as well. For $20 (and I noticed the price is dropping further), this program is WELL worth it.

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eMedia GuitarPro 5.1 Win/Mac

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: eMedia

September 14, 2006
This is a fantastic piece of software made just for guitarists. You do NOT need to know music notation. If you can find the Guitar Pro tab for a song and load it into Guitar Pro, it will make learning and practicing the song MUCH easier! It is not perfect software, however. The interface is not as polished or slick, as say Sibelius or Finale Allegro or Finale G7 (I've tried them), but does FAR more then they can for the guitar player (and at a lower price). For example, you can repeat sections of a song over and over at different speeds until you finally learn the part. It can even speed up sections incrementally to help you learn a part. You can see the tab and the correct rhythm in standard notation above. TRY IT. There's probably a demo!

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Guitar Praise By Digital Praise

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: Digital Praise

September 25, 2008
Look, I don't expect that Digital Praise expected out of the gate to be at the Guitar Hero level. Give the guys a break. For a first release product this unit is incredible. For what its purposed for, getting some Christian Music in the gaming world it is spot on. The songs they picked are excellent, i'm very impressed. Its alright that the graphics are not "blow you out of the chair" quality.

The Quality is in the music and the game play and the fun you can have with your kids without worrying about them hearing about immoral innuendos time and time again.

Can't wait for the Rock Band Clone :D

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Finale 2009 - Academic

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: eMedia

July 17, 2008
Look, I don't expect that Digital Praise expected out of the gate to be at the Guitar Hero level. Give the guys a break. For a first release product this unit is incredible. For what its purposed for, getting some Christian Music in the gaming world it is spot on. The songs they picked are excellent, i'm very impressed. Its alright that the graphics are not "blow you out of the chair" quality.

The Quality is in the music and the game play and the fun you can have with your kids without worrying about them hearing about immoral innuendos time and time again.

Can't wait for the Rock Band Clone :D

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Estéban's Complete Guitar Course For Beginners

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
by: Esteban

November 01, 2005
When America was first introduced to Esteban, many played off his infomercials as nothing more than a "fly by night" trying to make a fast buck. He was a joke to many people, and he even made a comical insurance commercial. But Esteban is no joke, not by a long shot!!!
Simply put, he is a Master guitarist, and if you want to learn guitar, he is one of the best.
I learned to play guitar many years ago. And like many, I set it down after awhile and gave up on it. One day, I stumbled across a guitar at a very reasonable price and thought, I'm going to try it again. Some of the things I had forgot, until I purchased and played the vhs version of this extraordinary guide. What I Like about Esteban is that he literally takes you step by step into the world ... Read More:

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Sibelius First - Music Notation Software

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: Sibelius Software Ltd.

June 30, 2008
My wife is a songwriter and was able to quickly and easily learn this software and use it to compose a choir piece. It's obviously not as powerful as the full version, but definitely is a better value. The Sibelius forums are very helpful for whatever you can't figure out.

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eMedia Rock Guitar Method

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: eMedia

November 09, 2004
I would really prefer a lesson were the video plays most of the time. This is mostley reading the screen, which is very small and they are so paraoid that you will copy it that they disable printing, The video really does not help much and i have been through half of the course. I personally would reccomend metal method with doug marks over this.

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USB Teach Me Piano Kit

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Instrument Instruction
from: VOYETRA

September 20, 2005
The MIDI/USB cable works as advertised, and I'm able to record music easily. The problem is, I bought this software to learn to PLAY piano...and it's entirely useless. The educational software is not compatible with Windows Vista, and the publisher does not offer product support for Vista users.

I've tried every conceivable method to get this software to work on Vista, and it's a no-go. I even tried changing compatibility settings with no luck. I'm sure the software works great on older computers, but if you're running Vista, find something else.